Florida Survival Gardening

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Thursday, April 30, 2015

Today at the 326 Community Market: Yacon, Simpson Stoppers, Celosia!

Celosia argentea: edible leaves, edible seeds.

I've got a great selection of plants traveling with me to the market this afternoon, including yacon (a crazy root crop from the Andes), Simpson stoppers (a native edible fruit) and the always beautiful Celosia argentea, also known as pink cockscomb.

The 326 Community Market runs every Thursday from 3 - 7PM and is really easy to find.
Google map is here. Their Facebook page is here (with lots more photos and info).

My prices are good and my gardening advice is free.

Beyond what I carry, there are also folks selling melt-in-your-mouth Florida peaches, handcrafts, chickens, delicious ice cream (from actual hand-milked cows), crafts, vegetables, baked goods, homemade jams and jellies, local raw honey, ornamental plants, handcrafted birdhouses and more.
It's a great group of people and very friendly... the way a local market should be.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

From the Inbox: Composting in an Apartment

Hi David:
I saw an article of yours online when searching about meat composting.
I have just started composting in the past few years with a bin in my
backyard. It was cool to read about meat composting options.
I will be moving to a downtown area apartment in a couple months, and
have been trying to figure out what to do in order to make this new
residence closer to zero waste, as I do not think I will have the
outdoor box option in the new apartment. Perhaps I can compost on a
little patio, but even then, I don't know where to use the product.
I think it's odd that I can't find better guidance on this topic
seeing as the city dwellers make up a huge portion of the population.
Therefore, I'm curious what an expert like you might recommend. In
case it helps, the apartment is in Denver
Thanks,
D. Z.

I know the feeling of wanting to compost but not having the proper outlet.

I've saved banana peels and coffee grounds from the trash while on vacation.

You can't do this indoors.

What do you do if you don't have the space to "make compost?"

Personally, my #1 favorite method is to simply find a plant or a tree and feed it the raw organic material.

I've tucked plenty of scraps beneath shrubs while camping. I've also tossed pistachio shells into the woods, thrown coffee grounds across a lawn and done pretty much ANYTHING with kitchen scraps other than throwing them in the trash.

There's really no excuse to throw compostable material into a wastebin.

None.

If you're interested in creating actual compost, setting up a worm bin beneath the kitchen sink is one option. Another option is to save all your scraps for a composting friend. Creating a dedicated bag of scraps that you keep in the freezer will make the process less of a mess.

If you have a local community garden, consider chucking your kitchn scraps into their compost pile. Or ask folks you know if they know of anyone with a pile that might appreciate some donations.

A friend of mine and her husband own a coffee shop next to the Gaineville farmer's market. Every week she brings me 5-10 gallons worth of coffee grounds which I then feed to my blueberry bushes.

It always seems like there's never enough compost to go around. If you're in an apartment there's no need to chuck material that should go back into the ground. Just:

Monday, April 27, 2015

Upon the relative growth of figs

This fig tree is about three years old:

I started it from a 12" branch I rooted in a pot, then planted out once it had a decent amount of roots. I did the same thing with another 12" cutting the same year and it's even bigger than the tree above.

Interestingly, at the same time I planted a few figs I'd purchased in pots from Home Depot. Those were about 5' tall.

Those figs, though they looked impressive in their pots, have failed to thrive like the small, just-rooted 1' trees I planted.

I've heard the same story from a few people at this point. A great-looking fig in a pot that's already grown to a good height just doesn't seem to do as well when transplanted as a small potted fig allowed to grow directly in the ground. Two of the three 5' figs I planted are now SHORTER than 5' because of various die backs. They just don't really want to grow.

I have a theory that figs do much better when they don't have their roots restricted. Figs can grow quite quickly; in fact, the tree in the photo grew to my height (just over 6') within its first year, rapidly outpacing the 5' trees I planted the same year.

I think I'm going to stick to selling shorter trees in my nursery rather than letting them get big in the pot before they hit the market. The vigor of figs seems to get short-circuited by leaving them in a pot for any period of time.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Coming in May: "Compost Everything!"

My new book "Compost Everything, the Good Guide to Extreme Composting" is with the publisher and should be released within the next few weeks.

Behold!

In this new book I'll teach you how to compost meat, how to compost humanure, how to create your own fish emulsion, how to compost large trees and lots and lots of other things you never thought you could compost easily or safely.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Asimina parviflora in my food forest

That's one of three native Asimina parviflora pawpaws currently growing in my food forest.

Here's a shot of its tiny brand-new fruit:

Unfortunately, those fruit dropped off a couple of days after I took this photo. It's likely because this tree was just planted in February and doesn't have a mature root system yet.

Unlike the common northerly pawpaw (Asimina triloba), Asimina parviflora has smaller fruit, which are reputedly delicious. Hopefully I'll find out how they taste next year... provided I can keep the zebra swallowtails from eating the plants to the ground.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Today at the 326 Community Market: CRAZY EDIBLES!

At my plant booth, I get a lot of people saying "What in the world is THAT?"

That gives me a chance to share with them about some of the incredible "unknown" edibles that grow in our climate.

Summer greens on our homestead include chaya, longevity spinach, Surinam purslane, Florida cranberry and other greens that most folks have never tried. I like seeing folks' eyes light up when they taste a leaf.

"Hey - that's good!"

These vegetables sail right through the heat, long after the scraggly remains of your kale and lettuce have his the compost heap. Most of them I sell in small pots for $2 each - and they can be propagated from cuttings once you have them.

Along with my greens, I'll also have fruit and nut trees, berries and more.

The 326 Community Market runs every Thursday from 3 - 7PM and is really easy to find.

Google map is here. Their Facebook page is here (with lots more photos and info):

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Grape vines are looking good/BACK at the Gainesville Market this afternoon!

I have a patch of about 10 grape vines growing in my backyard that I planted 3-4 years ago.

They're almost all muscadine grapes, with the exception of one Red Flame seedless that's bound to die at some point since they're subject to Piece's Disease, a grape malady that claims every variety planted where with the exception of muscadines.

Almost invariably when someone asks me "Why did my grapes die?", it's because they bought Champagne grapes, or wine grapes or some other type of non-muscadine variety from their local Lowes or Home Depot, not knowing that there's a clock ticking on those vines as soon as they hit the ground.

When I first planted my grapes I had them on a two-wire "system" that was more of a mess of recycled electrical wires and boards plunked into the ground than a proper grape support system.

This winter I cut all the lower vines out and trained them all to a single wire, ratcheted up nicely to posts set in concrete. Now they're looking really good.

Muscadines are easy to grow and will reward you with buckets of grapes after a few years, provided you can keep the coons from robbing you blind.

Last year we had a decent amount of grapes and I'm expecting quite a few more this summer.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Survival Plant Profile: Florida Soapberry/Soap Nut Tree

If you're a back-to-the-land sort or an alternative health, organic-market-shopping type, or a plant lover... you may have come across these trees before.

The Florida soapberry (Sapindus saponaria) is a native tree, though it's only seen in the middle of the state when planted on purpose. I've been told by Dave Chiappinni of Chiappinni Native Farm and Nursery that its only common range in the state is scattered across a few islands on the coast.

According to UF, it's hardy to USDA Growing Zone 10. This is demonstrably false since there are large specimens growing in Gainesville and bearing fruit quite happily right at the edge of USDA zone 8.

What's so great about this tree? It grows soap.

Soap on a tree.

For preppers, homesteaders and the cheap, this is good news.

The fruit, erroneously called a "soap nut", is loaded with saponins. Dry them (and pit them if you like) and they can be used to wash your hands or do a load of laundry when placed in a mesh bag. They last quite a few washings, too.

Soapberry fruit on the tree.

I first heard that the trees take 8 years or longer to produce fruit when grown from seed, however my friend Alex Ojeda of Permacultue Jax visited last week and told me that his soapberry trees bore fruit only three years after germination.

Germination is easy with soapberry trees, fortunately. I scarified a bunch of seeds and planted them in little pots this spring and got almost a 100% germination rate. Now I've got plenty of little trees in my nursery that I'll be growing and potting up for sale within the next year or so. We also have a few tall trees left if anyone wants two or three before they sell out.

Why do I say two or three? Well, like many uncommonly cultivated species, the soapberry needs a mate for pollination. Trees come in male, female and hermaphroditic varieties. Only females and hermaphrodites will bear soap nuts. If you plant three, chances are really good that at least one or two of them will fruit for you.

I've planted five in my yard so far. I want lots and lots of soap.

Because really... won't the Econopocalypse be better when you can take a nice shower between bouts of killing diseased and drug-crazed looters with a broken shovel?

Soapberry trees grow tall with an airy, open habit. In fact, they look a lot like the despised Chinaberry tree that's invaded railroad tracks and roadsides across the state, though unlike Chinaberry they have almost white bark. They're quite attractive.

If you have a small yard, I recommend planting three in a tight triangle so they grow like a triple-trunked tree and will pollinate each other without taking up too much space. That's what I did in my backyard, spacing them about 6' apart... though you could probably plant three in the same hole about 18" apart and it would look really cool.

Growing soapberry is easy. Soap nut trees are tolerant of poor soil and grow rather quickly into airy, lovely trees that don't cast particularly dense shade. Tuck some in on the edge of your food forest!

Just don't eat them - the seeds are reputedly poisonous.

That's a small downside on an otherwise excellent survival crop. Every prepper, gardener, homesteader and homemaker in Florida should have their own soap berry trees.

You can buy soapberry trees from the Florida Food Forests nursery - just let me know you want them, then stop by our booth at a plant show or Farmer's market to pick a few up.

Friday, April 17, 2015

More Chickasaw plum grafts/Grafting successes and failures

We had almost a 100% success rate with our Chickasaw plum grafting this year.

Behold!

Those two grafts are from one of my seedling peach trees.

These two are Sunhome nectarine grafts:

And this is the UF plum variety I grafted last year:

Now look a little closer:

Yes! It has ACTUAL PLUMS on it!

I can't tell you how thrilled I am that these experiments are working so wonderfully.

Lots of folks have wild plums growing in their yards. If they use those plums as root stocks, they've got a hardy resource already in place and can create some amazing fruit cocktail trees that will handle tough conditions without breaking a sweat. Not that trees sweat. Well, they do release moisture into the air via a process called...

Oh, nevermind.

Anyhow, I'm stoked. My little Chickasaw plum is well on its way to being a one-stop stone fruit destination. It's amazing how well the new grafts are doing. The best takes appear to be the "whip and tongue" grafts.

Next year I hope to add a few more varieties of plum to the mix. The only failures we had this year were the sweet cherry scions. None of those took on the Chickasaw - and they also failed on my wild black cherry tree. It was worth a shot, but that shot was a blank.

The benefit of having these plants growing in the garden cannot be overstated. Though some are only there for beauty (such as the roses), they all provide shelter for good insects, as well as food, spices and medicine for us.

Japanese persimmons are a small tree that fit nicely into a garden design. They don't cast a lot of shade and their fruit is a slice of heaven.

NOTE: I will NOT be at the Gainesville Farmer's Market this evening - look for me again next week.

Monday, April 13, 2015

African Yam propagation from minisetts: it worked!

Not all of the pieces emerged. I knew some of the yams were old, so I'm guessing that was the issue. The tissue inside some of them was a bit mottled, which makes me think that's why they rotted rather than jumped to life.

Lots have come up, however - check it out:

Those vines are really hopping. I need to get transplanting ASAP!

True yams are an excellent survival crop for Florida and other subtropical areas - I can't recommend them enough.

Speaking of yams, here's a rare purple one that's popping back up after its long winter sleep:

I've got that growing at the base of a pollarded sweetgum tree. The pole beside it is there to give it a jump onto the trunk.

This year the root will likely be large enough to harvest...

...and make more minisetts for next year.

Go out, hit your local ethnic market and hunt down some yams. They're beautiful and easy-to-grow - and unlike air potatoes, they're not at all invasive.

How I protected my loquat fruit from the frost

These are the first fruits to appear on this loquat tree. It's likely 6 years old, though I planted it 2 years ago.

We had a late frost this year that would have taken all the fruit off this tree... except for the fact that I had a secret weapon!

That is a drum filled with liquid plutonium.

No. It's not. It's just water.

The thermal mass of that water, along with a few thrift store sheets and blankets made a big difference.

Look at the entire tree:

I'm not sure if you can see it in this photo, but the only place on the entire loquat tree that held fruit was the portion right around the barrel of water.

Loquat fruit are only cold-hardy down to 25 degrees, though the rest of the tree can easily handle the teens.

Because I HAD to know what the fruit on this tree tasted like, I covered that one corner of the tree, plus added the barrel - and it worked like a charm. Water holds a lot of energy. You can use this trick to protect young citrus and other tender plants as well. Just tuck a barrel right next to the trunk and cover the plant with a blanket or sheet to keep the heat of the water in.

It works.

Unfortunately, the loquats are really lemony-tart and sour (which has nothing to do with the cold weather). Not all loquat trees are created equal, which is why I wanted to see what this seedling tree would bear.

Now I know it needs to be grafted with scions from an improved cultivar. It'll take some work, but will greatly improve the fruit. I've waited 4 years for fruit - why not graft and wait one more?

The 326 Community Market's webpage is here. Just north of Ocala. It's a great little market. You can pick up plants, farm-fresh eggs, worm castings, raw honey, fresh produce, horsehair jewelry, crafts, baked goods and a lot more.

A great place to take your family for a nice afternoon out. See you there!

Today at the Union Street Farmer's Market

It's been nice getting to know a new crowd and putting plants into the hands of Gainesvillians and beyond.

I'll be at the market today from 4-7 along with an esoteric selection of edibles, ranging from fruit trees to perennial vegetables. Some of my new and recent offerings include yacon, culinary ginger, Chinese chestnuts and pawpaws.

I've also got a different type of chaya (Mexican tree spinach) that attracts butterflies like you wouldn't believe.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Survival Plant Profile: Coffee

If you're asking that question, you must be one of those strange and rare creatures that live their lives in a state of drug-free serenity.

Perhaps you sleep in late, eat only vegetables, and spend hours watching a fishtank in your condo.

For those of us addicted to caffeine, coffee (or tea) isn't just a plant. It's a need. A burning need combined with pleasure.

The smell of roasted grounds... the hiss and trickle of a percolator... the first hit of the day...

These things will make the oncoming Econopocalypse almost bearable.

I mean, honestly: who wants to face a horde of the undead or fight with AI-equipped death-dealing homing drones without a cup o' joe in the morning?

Not I.

Coffee, unfortunately for those of us dwelling in non-tropical climes, is a completely tropical plant. It likes somewhat cool temperatures though cannot stand the frost.

Fortunately, there are ways to grow it outside of its natural range. Growing coffee in Florida is easier than in most states.

Thanks to its ability to grow as an understory plant, coffee can be successfully cultivated indoors and in sheltered locations through the cold of winter.

My mother plant. It's about 2-3' taller now than in this picture.

If you live in South Florida, you can pop some coffee plants into your yard and they'll grow without much care; up in my neck of the woods, however, they're best grown in pots or against the south wall of your house as I've started to do in my Miami Garden.

I've been growing a coffee tree in a large pot for about four years now and it's paying off. During the freezes I keep it in my greenhouse. During the spring, summer and fall, it resides in a shady spot outdoors, happily blooming every spring and producing coffee cherries in the fall and winter.

Though I've been told that "good" coffee only comes from the mountains, I'm not all that concerned. If shipping lines fail, I will happily enjoy my locally grown coffee.

Right now, however, all the beans are being used to grow new coffee plants.

A word on those "beans": they're not really beans. They're the seeds inside a small fruit called a "coffee cherry." Coffee cherries taste a lot like sweet red bell peppers with a bit of spice to them.

Not bad at all. Just spit out the seeds, then roast and grind them.

Coffee trees take a little bit of time to propagate.

Last year I started a couple dozen of them and sold them in my plant nursery, though the time involved was a bit silly.

Here's why germinating coffee seeds is a little tough:

1. You need fresh seeds

I've bought coffee seeds through the mail and tried to germinate them. They all failed. If the seeds are more than a few weeks - or maybe months - old, they won't come up. Roasted beans from the store are obviously not going to work, so finding green, non-aged seeds is the first thing you need to do to get started. I paid $30 for my mother coffee tree and then waited a year for seeds so I could get started on my future plantation.

2. It takes time for coffee to germinate

Coffee beans usually take a couple of months to germinate. Even then, the germination is uneven and hasn't been that high. Maybe 50%. Bottom heat helps. I've had them come up in a month with a heating pad (like this one) beneath my seed trays. You need to keep them moist during this time. I put the seed trays on a large oven sheet with a little water in the bottom so they don't dry out. That works well for me.

3. It takes time for coffee to grow

From germination, it takes 2-3 years for your new coffee tree to start blooming. Fortunately, coffee is self-pollinating so you'll be able to get beans off a tree without its needing a mate. The plants I sold last year were mostly about 6 months old and 6-8" tall. They grow moderately quickly if you keep them in acidic soil and supplied with nitrogen. I feed mine with rabbit manure and coffee grounds. Blood meal is another good choice.

Coffee takes well to growing in a pot and can actually be grown as a houseplant year-round. The leaves are attractive, the blooms are lovely and the fruit is a fascinating conversation piece.

Back in the day, David The Good was a cartoonist. And coffee junkie.

To roast your own beans, go hit up YouTube. There are plenty of ways to do it at home. I can't spare any right now due to my need to grow them for my nursery, though one day I'll finally have enough to spare. (Call this post a "preliminary" survival plant profile. I can grow coffee well at this point but I haven't actually processed it out yet... when I do, I will update this pot.)

What I can tell you on cultivation: it's hard to kill coffee. If you move it into full sun, it will burn the leaves and make it unhappy. If it goes without water for too long, it will wilt but usually recovers rapidly when water is reapplied. Just keep it fed and watered and it will reward you with plenty of rich, glossy leaves and abundant blooms and fruit.

According to my non-scientific estimates, a serious coffee drinker will require about 25 bushes to stay caffeinated through a year. An occasional coffee drinker will only need a few. They bear more and more every year and can grow into a decent-sized tree under good conditions.

I met a man at the Kanapaha plant show this year that grows a small plantation of coffee trees in his yard somewhere around Gainesville. They're brought in during freezes but he told me he's had great success with fruiting and production. (If you're the guy I met and you're reading this, drop me an e-mail - I want to see your place!)

If you're not growing coffee, give it a try. It's a lot of fun, even if you're not an addict. If you are, it's a necessity - unless you're willing to switch to Yaupon tea.

SPUDOMETER RATING:

3 Spuds

Name: CoffeeLatin Name: Coffea arabica/canephoraType: TreeSize: Can grow to over 30' under ideal conditions. Usually much smaller.Nitrogen Fixer: No Medicinal: YesCold-hardy: NoExposure: Part to full shadePart Used: SeedsPropagation: Cuttings under mist, seedsTaste: ExcellentMethod of preparation: Roast, grind and consumeStorability: HighEase of growing: ModerateNutrition: Good - high in antioxidants and POWERRecognizability: LowAvailability: Low

Monday, April 6, 2015

Grafting Pear onto Hawthorn

I've read that it's possible to use wild hawthorn trees as a root stock for pear, though I've never had the chance to try until now.

While doing a horticultural analysis of a client's property in prelude to installing a food forest, I discovered a large number of hawthorn trees on the premises (probably Crataegus flava).

Though they have edible fruit, they're generally said to be bland and only really good for jellies.

Since the trees are thriving on highly drained humus-deficient sand, if it's possible to add pears to their tops, they'd serve as a hardy rootstock rather than trying to establish new pears.

I shared the idea with the property owner and he was intrigued. The answer: "Go for it!"

I love folks like that.

Since my own pears were still dormant when we discussed the idea, I cut a good amount of dormant scions from multiple trees and refrigerated them until this last week when we started phase one of the food forest installation.

To start on the tree, I cut off quite a few of the crossing and smaller branches, then picked out which limbs would support my pear scions.

Once I did the initial clean-up, I started plugging in scions. Here's what the tree ended up looking like:

And here are some close-up shots:

I tied the grafts tightly with flagging tape before wrapping them in the parafilm.

It's very important to have a tight fit between rootstock and scion. My friend Steven also told me one of the most common reasons for grafting failure is having the scions dry out, so I'm now quite meticulous with my parafilm wrapping or wound seal application (I lost my bottle of sealer somewhere so it was just parafilm on this hawthorn).

Due to the wavy nature of hawthorn growth (the branches are all zigzags) it wasn't easy to line up my pear scions. Most of the grafts are cleft grafts, though I also performed a few somewhat shaky whip-and-tongue grafts as well, just to see which would work.

I will report in the future on whether or not they took. If they do, I'll be thrilled and will have opened up another avenue for food forest fruit production. If not, I will have invested an hour of my life in the pursuit of an enticing possibility that didn't pan out but will have taught me something new.